Bryan sang the role of Enée in Les Troyens last June and returns to The Royal Opera in Laurent Pelly's new production of a work that hasn't been performed at Covent Garden since 1890. The New Orleans-born tenor spoke to Neil Fisher, Deputy Arts Editor at The Times and shed some light on rehearsals for a hotly-anticipated new work:

'It’s great to be in this production with such a great cast. There are also some challenging arias which will really impress the audiences.

'My score includes some very difficult sections with lots of C#s and Ds. It’s a tenor part but it’s over two octaves, which isn’t that common; the soprano parts are the same.

'It was a proud moment when I first came in to sing through the music with Tony Pappano and afterwards he said to me: "If you can’t do this, nobody can." The reality is that it’s been three years since I was first approached to sing the role of Robert, so I’ve had some time to prepare.

"As we carry on with rehearsals before the opening night next week, I’m just really enjoying being involved with the production and working with the cast and director. Laurent Pelly is really very good and personally, I think audiences will struggle not to enjoy this production.”